Constable
by Flick262
Summary: Victorian Britain is shaken by the news that mankind is not alone in the universe when Earth is invited to join the galaxy. Cross-over between War of the Worlds and Mass Effect
1. Chapter 1

What if war of the worlds was just a little bit different…

I don't own anything from the mass effect universe or from war of the worlds, please leave reviews and ideas, I'm keen to hear what you all think.

 **(Chapter 1)**

No one would have believed in the closing years of the 19th Century that as we were exploring our planet so too was our galaxy being explored. Few men thought and even fewer believed that there could be life on other planets, and yet across the vast timeless whorls of space, minds infinitely superior to our own regarded this galaxy with curious eyes. And slowly but surely they drew their plans for exploration.

Admiral Andrius Tarquin surveyed his vessel, the council had bestowed upon him the honour of leading an expedition through a relay to explore the rest of the galaxy. The ship placed under his command was the famed Destiny Ascension, the ship which had first discovered the citadel and the current flagship of the citadel fleet. The council had decreed that the expedition would consist of all three of the council races as well as teams from other races such as the Elcor and Volus. The Salarians made up most of the scientific contingent on board as well as a handful of STG recovery units. The Asari as well as providing the ship, also provided some Prothean experts along with researchers. The Turian Hierarchy provided most of the muscle and security as well as the best scouts and intelligence gathering teams. The Council had even submitted two Spectres and Asari and a Turian to the crew.

"Sir!" Tarquin turned to find himself looking straight into the bright blue eyes of his second in command, an experienced female named Felcina Vakarian who was had spent her life serving the Hierarchy, she was a little taller than the average female Turian but had already made a name for herself as an expert sniper and at having considerable flexibility when it came to sparring, Tarquin noticed how the icy blue of her eyes was complemented by the cobalt blue of her clan markings. Tarquin himself was a little on the short side, but his distinguished military career more than made up for his lack of height, when sparring he found that his longer reach was able to counteract Felcina's impressive skills. "Yes commander?" he asked briskly, shaking himself out of his observations. "Sir, we are ready to depart, all cargo and crew are aboard." She paused meaningfully and Tarquin arched one of his brow-plates, "Is there anything else commander?" Felcina leant forward and produced a data pad, handing it too him as if it were an unstable nuclear weapon, "This came from the council just as we were sealing the doors sir. The courier said it was sealed orders, not to be opened until we were past relay 314." Tarquin nodded and immediately marched across the bridge to the vessels impressive safe. He placed the datapad inside then sealed the safe with a time lock on it. He turned to face the bridge and was faced with a sea of professional yet expectant faces, this was the first multi-species expedition ever attempted into un-known areas of the galaxy, not only that, they were aboard one of the largest and most famous vessels in the galaxy and it was all under his command. " _Spirits_ ," he thought, " _This is it!"_ He turned to face the helmsman, a light blue Asari commando, "All engines forward!" he called, "Follow course to relay 314."

A few days later the Destiny Ascension approached Relay 314, the Turian 7th fleet was patrolling the surrounding area ensuring that nothing could come crawling through from the other side of the relay. Tarquin held his breath as the Ascension began her approach run, he felt the familiar tingle running through his plates and the deck shifting beneath his feet as the ship surged forward, the blue light enveloping every surface the vessel was slung through space.

Later, when the ship had successfully passed through the relay and was passing through a new solar system, the ship's safe released a loud beep and released the time lock, the whole bridge quieted as Tarquin opened it and withdrew the datapad. He stood and turned to the assembled officers and the two spectres. He activated the pad and read through the orders, his brow plates knitting together in consternation. He finished reading then put the datapad down, putting his hands behind his back he walked to the end of the table and turned to face the room. "It seems," he stated matter-of-factly, "That the council has detected an anomaly indicative of a large Prothean beacon in a solar system three relay jumps from here, they have authorized us to investigate and if possible retrieve the information in the beacon itself. According to the council this is one of the largest collections of prothean data we've ever encountered." A whisper of surprise ran around the table as the assembled beings considered the consequences of such a find. "Right!" snapped Tarquin jumping into full general mode, "Get to your stations, and prepare to activate the following relays!"

Village of Horsell, North of London 1895

Constable Brian Hacket smiled as he walked his beat in the village of Horsell, he's grown up here as a small boy when the village was barely a blip on the map. Now the village had a station, the small rifle factory which provided a lot of jobs and post office. The village even had its own telegraph of all things! Yes times were changing but Hacket didn't mind. He was at home here on the cobbled streets of the village and the green fields and farms surrounding it. He had to admit though that some of the changes weren't all welcome. That new astronomer fellow, Ogilvy, his name was, was attracting strange sorts, and due to more people arriving to work in the rail yard and the factory, the local police force had gone from one sergeant and two constables to a chief constable, two sergeants and eight or so constables, it wasn't right having these new comers come in and start causing trouble, it had reached a point where there was talk of the police being issued with those new-fangled penny-farthing contraptions. Hacket shook his head at the thought and continued his beat down the main street towards the train station, the evening train from London was just pulling in with the evening papers and a few supplies for the local shops. As he passed the haberdashers he turned to look at himself in the window, a tall young man, square shoulders but a long face with piercing blue eyes staring out from under the rim of his helmet stared back at him. He chuckled at his moment of vanity and the eyes went from piercing to jovial, scrunching up at the corners as he turned to continue his beat passed the new doctors surgery which his shiny new horseless carriage outside, his mouth twisted slightly as he remembered it was called an automobile, he sighed, yes things certainly were changing

Mars 1895

"Sir!" the Salarian in charge of analysing the prothean archives came running into the bridge so fast Tarquin thought for a moment that the archives were destroyed or some other calamity was afoot. "Alright" he growled his sub harmonics trilling with unease, "Slow down and tell me what's happened, are the archives alright?"

"Yes yes" snapped the Salarian, "Archive recovery goes as planned, however, startling discovery has been made. Planet next in orbit around system's sun is heavily populated, populace appears to have access to electricity judging from distant observations. Strongly request permission to launch probes to see if species can be uplifted!" Tarquin held up a taloned hand to stop the high speed flow of information. He didn't really care for a new species, there was already enough tension in the galaxy what with the Krogan, Vorcha and Batarians, but by the same token, if he didn't give permission he knew from experience that the STG would go down to the planet anyway and then the tarct would really hit the ventilation. "Very well," he sighed. "Three probes are to be launched. They can stay in orbit." The Salarian practically jumped for glee and sprinted out of the room without another word. Tarquin sat in his cabin and quietly begged the spirits he wouldn't regret this decision.

A few days later the probes were launch from the red planet's surface. Due to a strange anomaly in the planet's atmosphere the probes glowed distinctly green as they were launched and approached the blue and green planet. While the Salarians and even some of the Asari were keen to find out what they could about this planet and its native species, Tarquin was not so keen. Especially when sirens started to blare through the bridge and technicians announced that the second probe had fallen out of orbit and was going to impact in the heavily industrialised islands off the planets largest land mass. As techs and scientists scurried around getting in the way, Tarquin, with Felcina by his side calmly asked if the probe could be destroyed, The short answer was no, the probes signal receiver was destroyed by a small asteroid hence why it had fallen out of orbit in the first place. Tarquin ground his teeth, struggling to contain his rapidly mounting frustration and turned to Felcina, "Take a dropship and retrieve the probe, as quickly as possible, it seems to have landed near an isolated village so you shouldn't receive too much interference from the locals." "Yes sir," said Felcina her mandible flaring into a wide grin, obviously struggling to maintain her excitement as she hurried from the cabin to make preparations. Tarquin put his head in his hands, "Mad Salarians trying to study a new species, a second in command who is far too eager to explore, faulty probes and Trillions of miles from friendly space, it just couldn't get any worse than this.

Village of Horsell England

"It just couldn't get any worse than this" thought Hacket as he hurried across Horsell common. That bloody toss Ogilvy had had to tell everyone about those green things he'd seen coming from mars with that telescope of his, and he'd had to insist that it was little Martian men. It sounded like a penny dreadful but there was no denying that there was a bloody great hole in the middle of the village common, and that there was a fairly large metal cylinder in said hole. He himself he didn't believe in Martians or things from other planets but here he was going to examine while the other constables kept the crowds of gawkers at bay, since news of the strange cylinder's landing had been broadcast on the telegraph, the curious and so called scientific experts had arrived en masse, every guest room in the village was full. The crowd had become so big in only 24 hours that the chief constable had called for the local regiment to come out and help maintain order. Hacket had a friend in the regiment, a young maxim gunner by the name of Charlie Sanders they'd gone to school together and had been best mates, they still were, though they couldn't catch up to much nowadays, but there was Sanders now setting up that fancy mechanical gun of his. Hacket didn't pretend to know too much about military hardware but he could easily tell that if any blood sucking Martian appeared out of that metal tube, that maxim and the light field gun that was being set up in the trees at the edge of the common would make it think twice.

As he approached the cylinder in the hole, Hacket looked at his companions, two young privates barely dry behind the ears from the regiment, Ogilvy and an older man who'd introduced himself as a journalist who lived locally. He sighed, if anything did come out of that hole he doubted they'd have much of a chance to get out of the way. The Chief constable (Who'd decided it'd be better for all if he stayed at a safe distance away) had been kind enough to provide him with a hurricane lamp and a revolver to compliment his truncheon. As Hacket reached the edge of the hole, he turned to the others. As he opened his mouth to speak however he noticed the looks of shock on their faces as they looked at something above him. He turned and gasped. Another vessel was coming down, but instead of just falling, this one seemed to slow its descent. "Run!" he yelled, his voice cracking in a way that was not becoming for a constable, "Get back!" the two privates and the journalist dutifully legged it back to the cover of the trees but Ogilvy just stood there transfixed, Hacket didn't have time to go back for him as the strange vessel suddenly shot white hot flame from its underside instantly incinerating the astronomer. Hacket was left coughing in the dust thrown up by the vessel, his face and black uniform dusty and smeared. He didn't hear the screams of the fleeing civilians or the shouts of the regimental NCOs rallying their men. The vessel was sitting right in front of him, right on top of the strange metal cylinder in the hole. In a daze he felt himself drawing his revolver and walking towards to still glowing sides of the ship. When he was a few feet away and the heat was almost unbearable he drew himself to his full height. "In the name of Queen Victoria and the Law," he heard himself bellow, "I demand you come fourth!" " _Come fourth? What is this, la dee da Shakespeare?"_ In the silence which followed Hacket realized that he was alone, the nearest humans were in the trees and had a bloody huge gun pointed right at the strange vessel in front of him. Suddenly the air was rent by the sound of metal grinding and a panel in the side of the strange craft opened, falling to the ground to form a sort of ramp. And standing at the top of the ramp was a very tall, terrifying looking creature clad in a suit of armour, the creature seemed much taller than a human and seemed to have only three fingers instead of five, but more importantly it held a rather large gun, the type of gun that made Hacket's revolver and truncheon seem decidedly irrelevant. "Oh Bugger!" thought Hacket "It just got worse!"


	2. Chapter 2

Once again I don't own anything here, please feel free to leave ideas and/or impressions. Am keen to continue this story and am eager for any contributions. Hope you enjoy

Chapter 2

" _Oh spirits_ " thought Felcina, _"This is it!"_ she was still trying to believe this was real. As the drop ship hurtled through the strange planet's atmosphere to recover the lost probe she could barely contain her excitement. This was why she'd volunteered for the expedition, to explore and find new planets.

Suddenly the pilot buzzed her helmet comlink. "Sir, it seems that the planets inhabitants have found the probe, there's a small crowd of them around it and even more in the flora on the edge of the area." Felcina had thought for a moment, she had with her a squad of six Turian marines as well as two artificers, there was also that Salarian who'd demanded the probes be sent in the first place.

"Try and scare them away if you can" she eventually replied, "We don't want to cause any problems, especially as we'll be vulnerable while getting the probe on board."

"Yes ma'am" said the pilot and a few seconds later the blast of the landing jets reverberated through the vessel. As soon as the vessel was still Felcina had unbuckled her straps and was standing by the door, "Come on people!" she called, "Let's get this done fast!" she turned and punched the control panel to open the main bulkhead and stopped dead as she saw it at the bottom of the ramp.

It was a strange creature, it looked only a little shorter than a Turian, she couldn't make out too many details as it was covered in dust as well as a very strange looking black garment. She hefted her rifle in her hands and took a firm step forward. She'd half expected the creature to turn and run, instead it stood up tall (The strange tall black and silver helmet added to the effect) and aimed what looked to be a kind of pistol at her while making strange deep sounds with is pinkish rather strange looking mouth. It would almost have been cute if it hadn't been for the suspicious pistol looking object pointed at her.

" _Oh well_ " she thought, " _He's only one and that probe won't load itself_." As she stepped forward though, the creature not only stood its ground but also began to lower the hand holding the pistol. " _That's a good start_ ," she thought. She reached the bottom of the ramp stopping about five feet away from the strange black and pink thing. From this distance she could make out finer details, the black was definitely a kind of uniform, the silver on the tall dome like helmet looked to be a sort of badge, she could also the that the thing in its hand was most definitely a pistol, though obviously not one that employed mass effect tech. the creature was staring at her and slowly reaching its other hand up towards its chest where a silver chain hung. " _What do I say_?" thought Felcina, she could hear the Turian marines edging their way down the ramp. "Oh well," she murmured in her sub-harmonics, "I'll play it like the old alien vids I used to watch." "Greetings Creature." She intoned, trying to add to the effect with her best mandible-spreading grin.

That was a mistake. The moment she spoke the creatures eyes went wide and it wrenched out a small silver object at the end of its chain, put it to its mouth and blew hard, causing a shrill shriek to echo through the evening air, while the sound was easily with in the Turians hearing range, it still was enough to startle everyone and before Felcina had finished talking the strange creature had been tackled by the nearest Turian marine who bore it to the ground. Within seconds a Tarct storm had started, cracking sounds echoed from the tree line not far away and seconds later a Marine's shield failed as something impacted hard against it, the Marine cried out as he was hit, causing him to collapse, another marine's shields failed as everyone dove into cover, a distant tatatatatat sound began and rapid spurts of earth made their way straight towards Felcina. She dove for cover, recognising machinegun fire when she saw it, as small projectiles pinged and sparked of the hull of the ship. She landed flat on her stomach and turned to see the creature pinned beneath two very angry marines. The creature looked furious as was struggling like a freshly caught Poulti. Just as the opened her mouth to speak a dull boom echoed from the trees followed by a distinct whistling sound and an instant later the whole world had dissolved in a burst of light.

To say Hacket was nervous was an understatement. He stared up at the alien creature holding his pistol. He couldn't hear anyone behind him and he didn't dare look round. It was his duty as a Constable to ensure all civilians had as much time as possible to escape.

The Alien suddenly moved forward. Hacket whipped his pistol up ensuring that he could keep it at bay, his other hand began stealing towards his whistle, he wasn't keen on being alone out here thank you very much. "Keep Back!" he yelled doing his best to keep his voice even. The creature didn't raise its weapon, but slowly kept coming, its claw like feet clanging on the metal ramp. Hackett slowly lowered his weapon as he saw more armed Martians come out to the top of the ramp. " _Oh hell_ " he thought, his hand finding the breast pocket containing his whistle. The first creature stopped at the bottom of the ramp almost within spitting distance. Suddenly it reached a claw like hand up and removed its helmet, Hacket gasped, it was a hard looking face with two deep-set blue cat-like eyes. It had horn like things on the top of its head and strange royal blue tattoos across its rock-like face. Not only that it had the sharpest teeth he'd ever seen and the creature was baring them at him, flaring pincer-like things on either side of its mouth in a terrifying display, all the while emitting a series of horrific hisses and cackles.

That was all he needed to see. Wrenching on his whistle he blew as hard as he could. He'd only been blowing a second or two before something hard and spikey bowled him of his feet, pinning him to the ground and knocking the air out from him.

The moment his whistle had sounded that troops in the trees had let ri0p with everything they had, using their brand new Enfield rifles to good effect, Sander's maxim started too, sending a hail of bullets towards the Martians. Normally the idea of being a target for several platoons of troops would have terrified Hacket but at the present he was more concerned with the two Martians pinning him down with their claws, hissing and rasping at him their eyes glaring. A Martian was hit, falling amid the hail of fire. Hacket was still struggling as the 12 pounder artillery shell slammed into the front of the strange vessel sending a wave of hot air and shrapnel in all directions knocking several of the Martians out cold.

The two Martians holding him however, were more fortunate. One immediately let go of him and rushed to the one who had come out first, rolling it onto its back. Hacket could hear a roaring sound getting closer and closer as the Martian on top of him looked up towards the trees. Seconds later human troops were pouring over the Martians bayonets glinting, their bright red uniforms glowing in the light of the fire raging on the Martian ship. The Martian on top of him lifted its claws in the air and climbed of him under the watchful gaze and barked orders of several soldiers.

Everyone turned as four figures stumbled from the burning wreck. The soldiers raised their rifles only to be stopped by a burly sergeant, "Hold your fire lads, these ones seem to have had it." A handful of troops dashed forward and quickly disarmed the aliens. While three of the aliens were obviously Martians, the fourth one caused quite a stir, it was shorter than a human, with huge black eyes and a distinctly frog like complexion. The walking Martians were herded into circle and surrounded by eager young troops, their spiked helmets and long bayonets giving them a tone of extra menace. The Martians who were still down were quickly loaded onto stretchers and placed in a covered wagon.

"Wait!" said Hacket, running to the captain in command, "Where are you taking them?"

"To the station lad." Replied the captain bluntly. "We've set up our base there, reinforcements are arriving by train in the morning and the Martians can't be allowed to run everywhere. Besides, seeing as half of them are wounded, we'd better get them somewhere close to where they can be treated." "You want to save them?" asked Hacket curiously. "Of course!" the captain snapped, "not only can we learn more from them if their alive, but we also don't know how many there are out there. And finally, no one's committing cold blooded murder while I'm in command is that clear!" "Yes sir!" gasped Hacket, slightly relieved at the captain's attitude.

As he turned away from the captain, the short frog-like alien caught his attention. It seemed to the gesturing at him. As he walked closer, he could see the alien was definitely beckoning him. Curious, Hacket walked up to the cordon of soldiers. "Careful sir." Muttered one of the soldiers, "e' looks like a slippery customer that one." Hacket ignored him walking up to the alien and crouching slightly so they were eye about an arms-length apart. The strange creature opened its mouth and a stream of fast paced incomprehensible noise flowed fourth. Hacket frowned bemused by the spectacle. The alien stopped, seeming to recognise Hacket's confusion. It started the noise again, and seeming to understand that Hacket was incapable of understanding it, it stepped back. Hacket sighed, so much for that idea. But as he started to stand up the creature lunged forward and slapped the back of his neck hard. Hacket gasped and fell to his knees, "God's wounds that stung!" the soldiers yelled and raised their weapons forcing the alien to the ground. As Hacket knelt beside it, his neck burning with agony the alien stared at him, and with sudden clarity and great speed begged, "Tell your warriors I come in peace! We're from the galactic council!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three.**

 **Hello all, I hope you like this chapter. Don't forget that I'm still eager to hear any ideas you have regarding this story.**

 **Was also wondering if any artists out there would be interested in doing some fan art for this story. Its one thing having a picture in your mind, I'm curious to see how you guys see it.**

Felcina woke slowly. Her body hurt all over, her plates feeling like there was a hungry klixen munching away at them. As she lay there her eyes closed, she slowly became aware of movement bustling around her, and the sounds of hushed voices.

As she lay there listening, her memories started to come back to her, landing on the new planet, the strange pink creature, the gun-fire, and finally the explosion. The memory of the explosion jolted her, where were her team?!

As she opened her eyes slowly, she saw she was lying in a small room, soft flickering light permeated the space from a handful of strange lamps hanging from the ceiling and walls. As she slowly and painfully turned her head, she caught sight of the table to her left, on it lay her sergeant, a tough grizzled veteran from Northern Palaven by the name of Patrian, he was sitting up while the Salarian doctor who'd accompanied them bandaged his arm.

For a minute Felcina dared hope that the gunfire and the pink creature were merely a dream, or concussion induced hallucination, but that hope was quickly dashed as she saw one of the pink creatures standing behind the doctor. Unlike the one she'd met when she left the ship, this one was dressed in a bright red jacket, white bands came down over its shoulders and joined a white belt with a gold buckle round its rather shapeless hips. It had dark blue trousers with a red strip down each side. As she looked up she saw it was wearing a black helmet similar to the first creature, except that the helmet badge was gold, and the whole thing was tipped with a gold spike. Judging by the fact that this creature was carrying what was obviously a firearm (it looked like a sniper rifle) she assumed that this was one of the native warriors. The creature itself seemed very similar to a pink asari. She wondered what she could call it and decided that for now, she'd call them pinkies

Felcina chuckled at the thought and the Salarian looked up sharply. "Ah good, commander awake." Was all he said as he bustled over, the pinky dutifully following. The Salarian ran his omni tool over her. "Minimal damage," he observed, "Mild concussion and minor shrapnel injuries from explosion. Able to walk by afternoon." Felcina rolled her eyes, always slightly put off by Salarian abruptness.

Just as the Salarian turned away, Felcina stiffed as a distant keening wail struck through her plates, the wail was growing steadily closer, but suddenly reached a searing crescendo and stopped to be replaced by a hissing, rumbling clanking sound which was drawing closer. Felcina's sub-vocals trilled in alarm, wondering if it was the sound of ones of these planets predators. She stared at the pinky, but it didn't seem worried, in fact, it smiled like a Salarian or an Asari would. The Salarian was staring out of a window towards the sound, his mouth hanging open in shock. The sound was soon filling her ears and she became aware of a large shadow coming through the window. The sound was now right outside the door as the clanking stopped, replaced only with a sharp hissing and a distinct smell which made her sneeze. Over the hissing, she heard dozens of feet and the barking, rumbling sounds made by the pinkies. After several minutes the rumbling and clanking started again and the shadow outside moved on.

As she was turning back to face the ceiling, there was a strange twisting Click-Clack sound and the3 creature from last night walked in. Felcina couldn't stop staring. Instead of an Asari's crests it seemed to have a pelt or klixen hide on its head. It walked up to the Salarian and Felcina was startled to realise that she could understand it.

"I'm sorry doctor," it said apologetically, "I didn't realize you hadn't seen a train before." The Salarian smiled, "Not worried," he said, "Curious, is that main form of human transportation?" "Human, what's a human?" wondered Felcina. "Yes it is," smiled the pinky, "Railways cover the whole country." "What's a railway, and what's it got to do with this "Train" creature?" Felcina heard herself asking. The pinky stared at her, she was grateful that he couldn't understand her. The pinky walked over to her bedside and chuckled, "A railway is what a train uses to get around," Felcina's eyes widened as she realised that it had understood every word, "And a train is not an animal, it is a machine that we used to move from place to place." The Salarian piped up, "Don't worry commander, have fitted human with translator and upgraded squads translators, we can all understand him and his kind, he will act as translator between us and other humans." "Is that what these creatures are called?" asked Felcina, "Humans?" "Correct, beamed the Salarian, "this Human has proved most interesting and is more than willing to educate on human customs and society."

The human smiled and extended a hand, "The names Constable Brian Hacket." Felcina stared at the offered hand not sure what to do with it. The Salarian coughed, "Handshake a unique human custom constable." The human's smile wavered and he withdrew his hand looking slightly embarrassed. Felcina ignored Hacket and talked directly to the Salarian, "What about my team?" The Salarian held up his hands, "Team is all accounted for, few minor injuries, yours the worst being closest to explosion. Have been in contact with Admiral Tarquin, he is sending envoys to talk with our, um hosts."

Hacket spoke up, "I'd like to apologize for your injuries Commander Felcina," he said earnestly, "We've never encountered life beyond our planet and assumed your actions were hostile."

Felcina was taken-aback by this human's apology, but she had to admit that she appreciated it. She nodded, and over-come with tiredness, feel asleep.

When she awoke it was a bright sunny morning, she could hear a strange twittering sound similar to the birds on the citadel. She yawned and looked at the chronometer on her omni-tool. Once she'd confirmed that it was afternoon, she looked around. No one was in sight and sergeant Patrian was no longer in the bed next to her. Decided that now was as good a time as any to escape, she quietly looked around for her clothes and armour, finding an under-suit and leggings draped over the end of her bed. Once dressed she quietly began to creep towards what she assumed was the door.

When she reached it, she was surprised to see that instead of a holographic or electronic lock, it had a round brass ball over an ancient key lock. Her talons found it hard to get a grip on the brass ball but she was eventually able to twist it and heard the same click-clack sound as when the human called Hacket had entered earlier.

As the door swung open, Felcina was greeted by the Sight of Hacket in full constable uniform with two human warriors, Hacket arched one of the bits of fur above his eyes as he looked at her. "Commander Felcina," his mouth twisted upwards at the edges a little. "How did you know we were coming?" knowing sarcasm when she heard it, Felcina's mandibles twitched angrily but she merely nodded and said "Where are we going?"

"To you ship," came the unexpected reply. "Your Admiral Tarquin is sending down a ship with scientists and personnel, and we are sending you and your men back." Felcina stared open-mouthed, this was totally unexpected, were this species going to be uplifted after all?

After a few moments however, she straightened up and glared at Hacket (more accurately, she stared at the silver emblem on the front of his helmet because it was at eye-level), "Where is my armour?" she growled. Hacket nodded, "Its being held in the village police station, along with your weapons. If you'd like to follow me."

Hacket turned and, with the two human warriors on either side, Felcina sullenly followed. The walked down some red brick steps onto a stone paved open area, she could see dwellings pressed around the edges, but none intruded upon this square open space. As she looked around she became aware of the fact that the only humans she could see were red coated warriors and occasionally blue coated humans manning what looked like ancient cannons from the museums on Palaven. Here and there amidst the hubbub were humans dressed like Hacket, with black clothes and tall black helmets.

"Are all your species warriors?" she asked Hacket as she watched a handful of red coated warriors setting up a sand-bag position, "No" came the straight reply, "We weren't sure what would happen after we destroyed your ship so all civilians were immediately evacuated, and they are called soldiers, not warriors." Felcina huffed indignantly "We never attack civilians," she remarked hotly. "Maybe so," replied Hacket, "But at the time, we didn't know that."

As they walked through this throng of humans, Felcina gauged their reactions. All of them stared, some with hostility, but most with curiosity, until ordered back to work by what were obviously N.C.O's.

They soon reached a grey stone build with a blue and white sign over the front, Felcina couldn't read the symbols but she assumed that this was the place her armour was stored. As she entered the door she was met with a hive of activity, soldiers and constables were running to and fro, a shrill ringing sound filled the air along with a constant tapping sound, she saw the tapping came from a helmetless human soldier crouched over a table tapping a small brass switch. Felcina noticed that his head pelt was a golden colour as opposed to Hacket's dark brown.

Hacket walked past the counters and bustle and through a small black painted door. Felcina, escorted by the two warriors, followed into a small stone yard. She was desperately relieved to see her whole team was there, formed up and ready under the watchful eye of dozens of humans. She was led to a table against one wall on which her armour rested. As she sealed herself in the familiar confines of her armour she looked sharply at Hacket. "Where are our weapons?" she snarled. Hacket took a step back, "Your weapons will be returned once you have boarded your ship." He stated firmly. Felcina shook her head, these humans may be still stuck in the stone ages but they certainly weren't stupid.

Once she and her team were ready the humans ordered them up into the backs of wheeled covered wagons. These wagons were pulled by strange four legged creatures which snorted at the sight of the Turians. Once both wagons were full, the flaps at the back were closed and with a jerk, the wagons started to move, accompanied by the clip clop of the four legged creatures' feet.

It took them about half an hour to reach the crash site and they arrived just as the familiar sounds of a shuttle whined overhead. Felcina looked at her team, and they all looked back, their faces unreadable as the wagons bounced over the turf towards the wrecks.

Finally the wagons stopped and the flaps were opened. Felcina struggled to keep her eyes from falling out of her head, there were humans everywhere. It was like looking at a sea of red and dark blue.

As she and her men hopped off the wagons onto the wet grass she saw that the humans had dug a highly sophisticated trench system around the wrecks and into the trees, here and there being weapons pits containing the ancient looking cannons as well as an assortment of other weapons. Tarquin's shuttle had landed beside the burnt-out remains of the original shuttled and was being carefully watched by over a hundred human soldiers.

Hacket marched up to the commander and smiled, "Your admiral is waiting for you." He grinned as he gestured towards the waiting shuttle. Felcina grimaced and slowly began marching forward, feeling hundreds of pairs of eyes following her every move. All too soon she reached the steps and was about to knock on the shuttle door when it hissed sharply and opened revealing a furious looking Tarquin. "Good morning Commander," he smiled tightly, emphasising her rank, "it sounds like you've got quite the story to tell."

 **Left with a bit of a cliff hanger here. Remember, if anyone has anything they'd like to see happen in the story, don't hesitate to tell me, always open to new ideas, or fan-art.**


End file.
